The Qur’an

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Abstract

The Qur’an (Koran) is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Allah). It contains laws, commandments, and codes for social and moral behaviour. These were mainly revealed to the Prophet Muhammed in the towns of Mecca and Medina over a twenty-three-year period, beginning around 610 and ending with Muhammed’s death in 632 CE. The Arabic text is divided into 114 chapters (surah), which are then divided into verses. This Qur’an on display is a very unusual manuscript. Called by one scholar a ‘Baptized Qur’an’, it contains Christian crosses inside a number of the ornaments that resemble flowers. It once belonged to the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887), whose collection is now housed here in Special Collections.